[scorpiostudent]

What does this mean? I hate to ask the school a question about a question. The person listed on the website said: Clinicals are on a rotating basis at our 14 clinical sites.

So does that mean that we would be going to all 14 sites? Also, do any of you know if its a 5 day a week thing or is it 7 days a week thing?

The school I am interested in ending up at is a couple hours away and I was thinking I'd either commute or get a room down there at the University for during the week, but I'm going to end up doing a totally different tract if I can't make it work w/out totally moving (my husband's job here won't let us relocate) One of the clinical spots is right outside my backdoor and some of the others are as far as the next state away.

[NMB IVP]

It's probably like my school. We go to a different site every 8 weeks. Some of them are local. Others are in different states. However, every clinical site that we go to has a call room that we can stay in. As far as the number of days per week, that varies from school to school. Some schools require that you take call at some point throughout your education. That would include weekends as well. Other schools, such as the one I attend, don't require any call. Therefore, we only go to clinicals Tuesday-Friday.

[loveanesthesia]

Ask the program, it's a good question. I suspect you will not rotate to all 14 sites, but most likely several. That's to your advantage because you will learn mulitple points of view and learn from people with different strengths. Now it is easier as a student to settle in at one site, but you will be a better CRNA with a wider exposure. Also it is likely there are only a couple of the sites that do things like neuro, CV, trauma, OB etc. You want to be sure to get the widest variety of experience while in school. Ask about housing for those sites too far to travel. Some programs arrange it, while others expect the student to do that. I thinking asking about the clinical rotations is entirely appropriate and just shows you are thinking ahead, which is a good thing. Also ask what your regional anesthesia experience will be, that will be important when you are looking for a position after graduation.

[ready4crna?]

I am not sure if you would actually see all 14 sites, but you will rotate clinicals at pretty much every program. What this means is that you will be at a different site every month to two months. I rotate every month at 5 different sites, with specific goals for each rotation- General, peds, neuro, cardiac, transplant, etc...

[scorpiostudent]

thank you all for the insight. I am not yet at the point to make this decision, but it definitely helps to understand exactly what kind of commitment I will be making if I go down this path. The idea of offering pain relief and the independence of this specialization really appeal to me, but I'll have to do some real soul searching to see if I am able to make the commitment to be away from my family for the majority of 28 months and the financial commitment to hold 2 seperate households for that time frame.